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Includes new content on the use of new technologies and social media networks in engaged by community organizations.

Updated on 2 December 2013. The previous version of this content can be found here.

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PRINTED FROM the Encyclopedia of Social Work, accessed online. (c) National Association of Social Workers and Oxford University Press USA, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the applicable license agreement governing use of the Encyclopedia of Social Work accessed online, an authorized individual user may print out a PDF of a single article for personal use, only (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 19 November 2018

Abstract and Keywords

The authors review the history of community organization, both within and outside social work, describe the various sociological and social psychological theories that inform organizing approaches, and summarize conflict and consensus models in use in the early 21st century. We review the constituencies, issues, and venues that animate contemporary organizing efforts and indicate demographic trends in aging, immigration, diversity, and the labor force that suggest new opportunities for collective action. Finally, the authors discuss dramatic increases in organizing for environmental justice, immigrant rights, and youth-led initiatives, as well as new activities involving information technology, electoral organizing, and community–labor coalitions.

Dr. Lee Staples is a Clinical Professor at the Boston University School of Social Work. He received his MSW at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his PhD in social work and sociology from Boston University. His professional career includes extensive experience as a community organizer, supervisor, staff director, trainer, consultant, coach, and educator. Dr. Staples practices and publishes in the areas of grassroots community organizing, consumer/community empowerment, task oriented group work, international development, and immigrant rights. His research has focused on NGO development in the Balkans, consumer empowerment in Israel, social capital in Chelsea, mental health rights with the Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition, grassroots leadership, social action groups, immigrant workers centers, and youth organizing. His book, Roots To Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing, is used widely by practitioners and as a text in many schools of social work. Recently, he co-authored Youth-Led Community Organizing: Theory and Action with Melvin Delgado.

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PRINTED FROM the Encyclopedia of Social Work, accessed online. (c) National Association of Social Workers and Oxford University Press USA, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the applicable license agreement governing use of the Encyclopedia of Social Work accessed online, an authorized individual user may print out a PDF of a single article for personal use, only (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).